Monday, September 10, 2012

Upper Class Tweet of the Week

Last Tuesday, Jeff Allworth, chief at Beervana, wrote a post on the nature of criticism—more specifically the mass critism of beer as it appears on rate sites, like beer advocate and ratebeer. Jeff’s point to this post was that a well-written critique, by a single critic, gives a better view of the possibilities of a beer—regardless if the reader agrees or disagrees—rather than simply a ranking of which, sometimes, appears as more of a popularity contest than that of an objective view.

Jeff’s post—and the subsequent conversation between Alan and myself about his sparring match with Stan, on all things Jacksonian, in the comments area of Jeff's blog—helped me formulate a position that I’ve been on the fence about for sometime. While both Jeff, Alan and Stan are talking about the finer points of review and critique. Personally, I'm looking at the broader spectrum, and it comes down to this.

I don’t like to read, let alone, write beer reviews—professional or amateur, elite or en masse.

Looking back on the last few months of my own posts, I’ve
noticed a trend. I’ve been writing more about beer culture, than beer itself. I’m
cool with that. That’s where my interest lies. Looking at how folks view beer,
or how beer influences people is far more interesting to me (and hopefully you
as the reader) than just another description of, say, a Robust Porter. That
does leave me with a slight conundrum. I want to talk about specific beers, but I don’t want to
blather on about their sublte notes of graham cracker and black pepper. So, I’ve
had an idea, and I’m going to embrace social media to execute it.

The idea for this little endeavor sprang from an email, sent
by my pal Gravey this weekend. The email was as innoculous as could be. Nothing
more than a link to a Sam Eifling article on, the normally sports-minded, deadspin.com—a “Beer of the Week”
article highlighting Tullibardine
Distillery’s (yes, distillery) 1488
Premium Whisky Beer. While the whisky-cask aged brew sounds intriguing enough,
what struck my fancy was a beer of the week concept. I don’t want to do a monotonous,
meandering breakdown of whatever beer I’ve had in the past week. So, where can
I express my beery suggestions, in the concise-ist of manners? Where else, but in
the pithy world of Twitter.

I’ve had a Twitter account for some time, but admittedly,
tweeting is something that I’ve not fully wrapped my arms around. I’m not opposed
to tweeting, but seeing as buying a salad at the Empire State Plaza cafeteria
is about the most exciting thing I do in any given day, I’m just not Twitter’s
target demo. A beer of the week tweet, just as the name implies, once a week,
might just be my tweeting speed. So, starting Thursday I’m going to do just that.
Stop by twitter.com/drinkdrank1 and hit the “Follow” button. I suppose I should
employ a hashtag, too (all the kids are doing it) so keep you eye out for #ddbeeroftheweek.

Simple and to the point—if it’s a I beer I like, maybe you’l
like it too. No long-winded
descriptions and judging. Just a beery suggestion of 140 characters, or less.